Electric clock and signal system



H. C. PREY.

ELECTRIC CLOCK AND SIGNAL SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 19, I917- 1;",336,3:18., Patented Apr. 6, 1920,

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ELECTRIC CLOCK AND SIGNAL SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED. DEC. 19, I9I7.

1 33 6, 3 1 8 Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN C. PREY, 0F WATERTOWN', SOUTH DAKOTA.

ELECTRIC CLOCK AND SIGNAL SYSTEM.

Application filed December 19, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN C. PREY, a citizen of the United States, residing at 'WatertoWn, in the county of Codington and State of South Dakota, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric Clocks and Signal Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in signal systems and aims to provide means whereby a signal, either visual or audible may be operated from a master clock at a remote point and at any predetermined time.

Another object is to provide means located at such remote point whereby the time at which the signal will operate may be determined, this being especially advantageous in hotels, enabling a guest to set the signal controlling means so that the said signal will be automatically operated to call the guest or for any other purpose. The invention is .also suitable for use in hospitals'for notifying the nurse of the proper time for attention to the patient, or schools and for various other purposes.

For the accomplishment of the above the invention includes a time operated switch mechanism designed for attachment to a suitable time piece and includes'a plurality of radially arranged contacts disposed within the path of rotatable elements driven by said time piece,'each of the radially arranged contacts being electrically connected to a respective contact included in a manually operated selective switch device, the current being closed through a pivoted lever, which also controls a signal operated by the closing of any one of the circuits.

The invention further consists of the following novel combination and arrangement of parts, to be hereinafter described in detail and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a view illustrating the man- .ner of connecting the time controlled switch mechanism with the master clock, the former being shown in sect-ions;

Fig. 2 is a face View of the time controlled switch mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

Serial No. 207,916.

Fig. 4 is a similar view on the line 4.-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the manually operated selective device;

gig. 6 is an attached View of the same; an

Fig. 7 is a view in diagram of the complete system.

'In the embodiment of the invention illustrated, there is shown a time piece designated at 10, which is in the form of a clock and will be hereinafter referred to as the master clock in that it is designed to operate a time controlled switch mechanism which may be electrically connected to a number of manually operated selective circuit controlling devices positioned at various remote points, such as the different rooms of a hotel, hospital, school or other building. When placed in a hotel the master clock may be positioned upon the wall of the hotel office and extending through the wall and driven from the minute arbor of the clock is a shaft 11 which controls the time switch mechanism previously mentioned.

The time switch mechanism which is in dicated generally at 12, includes a casing 13, herein shown as of circular configuration, but it is obvious that the casing may be rectangular or of any other desired shape. One face of this casing is open and positioned within such open face is a dial 14 containing indicia similar to the dial of a clock, the said dial being provided with the centrally arranged circular opening 15, for the purpose hereinafter apparent. Located within the casing 13 is an insulating partition 16, to which is secured a frame 17, the shaft 11 extending within the casing and being mounted in suitable bearings within the said frame. Mounted upon the end of the shaft 11 is a minute hand 18 which revolves around the dial 14 simultaneously with the minute hand of the clock 10. Mounted upon the shaft and carrying at one end the hour hand 20 is a sleeve 19. This hand is intermittently operated at each complete revolution of the hand 18, through the medium of ratchet wheel 21, fast upon said sleeve and a cam 22 rotatable with the into the path of a pin or stud '23, carried by a spring actuated lever 24 mounted upon the frame 1.7. Pivotally mounted on the free end of the lever 24 is a pawl 25, which is urged into en agement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 21 by means of a spring 26, which latter also actuates the lever 24.

By means of the above described construction each complete revolution of the shaft 11 will cause the cam 22 through its engagement with the pin 23 to depress the lever 24, the latter carrying with it the pawl 25. The return of this lever under the influence of the spring 26 will cause the engagement of the pawl 25 with the ratchet wheel 21 and move the said ratchet wheel the distance of one tooth, the number of ratchet teeth corresponding to the number of hour divisions on the dial 14, so that the hour hand 20 will move a distance equal to the space between the hour divisions of the dial.

Mounted upon the insulating partition 16 is a plurality of rotatably disposed contact plates 27 arranged concentrically around the shaft 11, one of these plates being provided for each of the hour divisions upon the dial 14 and being insulated one from the other. The minute hand 18 and the hour hand 20 each carry respectively spring contact arms 28 and 29, which wipe over the contact plates 27 during the revolutions of the said hands, the arm 28 remaining upon a contact during the travel of the minute hand across the five minute space of the dial 14, and breaking contact at the end of each five minutes, while the hour hand remains upon a contact plate during the complete revolution of the minute hand around the dial, or for the space of one hour.

Each of the contact plates 27 has connected thereto a conductor 30, which is in turn connected to a respective contact point 31 carried by a manually operated selective circuit controlling device designated in its entirety by the reference character 32. The contact points 31 are numbered from 1 to 12 inclusive and from 5 to 60 inclusive and correspond to like numbers upon the face of the dial 14, that is, the contact point over which the numbers 1 and 5 are placed correspond to contact plates engaged by the spring arms 28 and 29 in order that the hands 18 and 20 point to the numbers 1 and 5 on the face of the dial 14. The circuit controlling device 32 carries a manually operated arm 33 and connected to this arm is a conductor'34 which leads to a signal herein shown as a lamp 35, but it is to be understood that other visual or audible signals or both may be substituted. A conductor 36 leads to a two way switch 37, each contact 38 and 39 of which is connected respectively to a conductor 40 and 41, the former being connected to the hour hand 20, while the latter is connected to the minute hand 18, suitable sources of electrical energy 42 and 43 supplying current to each of these conductors.

In the operation of the invention as-thus far described, when the arm 33 is placed upon the contact 31 adjacent numbers 2 and 10 and the switch arm 44 of the switch 39 on the contact 38, and the hour hand points to 2 on the dial 14, the circuit will be closed and current will flow from one side of the battery 42 through the switch arm 44, the conductor 36, the lamp 35, the conductor 34, the arm 33, the respective conductor 30, the spring contact arm 29 and the conductor 40 back to the battery 42. This will. indicate on the circuit controlling device 33 that it is two oclock, so that when it is desired to ascertain the time, the arm 33 is moved through the contacts 31 until the lamp is lighted. The time within five minutes may be ascertained by moving the switch arm 44 to the contact 39 and then moving the arm 33 through the contacts 31 until the arm reaches the particular contact point corresponding to the plate 27 with which the spring arm 28 is in engagement. Should this time be forty minutes after the hour, current will flow through one side of the battery 43, through the switch arm 44, conductor 36, the lamp 35, the conductor 34, the arm 33 and the conductor 30 leading from the contact point 31 beneath the numeral to the spring arm 28 through the conductor 41 to the opposite side of the battery 43.

In order to determine the time within one minute the time operated switch mechanism has located within the case 13 a countershaft 45, which is driven through the shaft 11 through the medium of a car 46 and pinion 47 having a ratio 12 to 1. ounted upon the end part of the shaft is a pointer 49 which travels around a small dial 50 provided upon the face of the dial 14 and divided equally into spaces numbered from 1 to 4. The shaft 45 carries a spring contact arm 51 which is designed to successively engage contact plates 52, corresponding in number and position to the divisions upon the dial 50. Each of these plates 52 is connected to a respective contact point 53 carried by the circuit controlling device 32 through the medium of conductors 54, these contacts being simultaneously numbered with the face of the dial 50. After finding the time 2.40 as previously described, a further movement of the arm 33 through the contact points 53 will cause the circuit to be completed when the said arm reaches a contact point corresponding to the position of the indicator 49, as shown in Fig. 7 as from the division 2. Current will then flow from one side of the battery 43 through the arm 44, the conductor 36, the lamp 35, the conductor 34, the arm 33 and the particular conductor 54 connecting the contact point 53 adjacent the numeral 2 with the plate 52 located upon the division 2 of the dial 50, thence through the conductor 54 which is attached to the conductor 41 and back to the battery 43. By this means time may be determined through the medium of the circuit controlling device 32 at a point remote from the clock 10 and while there is shown in the drawings only one of such circuit controlling devices this is done for the purpose of simplifying the illustration and it is obvious that any number of such devices may be connected to the time controlled switch mechanism 12 so as to be operated from a single clock. By placing the arm 83 upon any one of the contact points, the signal 35 may be operated at a predetermined time, thereby notifying the occupant of a room of the arrival of such time. This is especially valuable in hotels, as a guest before retiring for the night may move the arm into engagement with the proper contact, for example contact 8 and when the hands of the clock reach this hour the signal will be automatically operated, notifying the guest of the arrival of this hour.

The invention is susceptible to various other uses but it is thought that the foregoing description suificiently explains its operation and advantages and that a more extended description is therefore unnecessary. The right is reserved to make such changes of the form and proportion of the invention as will properly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. A signal system embodying a time operated circuit closing mechanism, said mechanism including a plurality of radially arranged contacts, a pair of rotatable arms disposed concentrically of the contacts and adapted to successively engage the latter, a manually operated selective circuit controlling device electrically connected to the time operating circuit closing mechanism and means included in said device for including either one of said rotatable arms in the closed circuit.

2. A signal system embodying a time 0perated circuit closing mechanism, said mechanism including a plurality of radially arranged contacts, a pair of rotatable arms disposed concentrically of the contacts and adapted to successively engage the latter, a manually operated selective circuit controlling device including a plurality of con tacts, each of said contacts being electrically connected to one of the radially arranged contacts, a switch arm adapted to engage one of the second mentioned contacts to determine the particular radially arranged contact to be included in a circuit to be closed by one of the rotatable arms and means also included in the manually operated device for determining the particular rotatable arm included.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

HERMAN C. PREY. 

